A study on english idioms containing the verb “have” with reference to the vietnamese equivalents

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING
THE VERB “HAVE” WITH REFERENCE TO
THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CHỨA
ĐỘNG TỪ “HAVE” TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG
VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)

LE THI DUYEN
Field: English Language
Code: 60220201

Hanoi, 2017


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING
THE VERB “HAVE” WITH REFERENCE TO
THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CHỨA
ĐỘNG TỪ “HAVE” TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG

VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)
LE THI DUYEN
Field: English Language
Code: 60220201
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Thanh

Hanoi, 2017


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report
entitled A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE VERB “HAVE”
WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English
Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been
used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.

Hanoi, 2017

Le Thi Duyen

Approved by
SUPERVISOR
(Signature and full name)

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Thanh
Date:……………………

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who gave me the
possibility to complete this thesis.
First of all, I am deeply indebted to my beloved supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Le Van Thanh for the invaluable support, enthusiastic guidance, and
encouragement he gave me throughout my research. I am truly grateful to him for
his advice and suggestions right from the beginning when this study was only in its
formative stage. Without his untiring patience in reading the manuscript and
clarifying my ideas, the thesis would have never been in the current shape.
Secondly, I would like to give our thanks to all lectures of Postgraduate
Faculty at Hanoi Open University for their valuable teaching and tremendous
assistance that have enlightened my study path.
Thirdly, I am also indebted to the field workers who were kind enough to
tolerate the painstaking task of collecting the data. Then my thanks also sent to my
classmates at the Master Course Class who have taken time and trouble to alert me
to errors in my thesis and provided me with useful data on which this thesis is
based.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to family members whose
support and encouragements have greatly contributed to the completion of my
study. For my little experience and knowledge, I would like to receive more useful
comments from lectures and others.

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ABSTRACT
Idioms are used regularly and naturally in everyday communication,
however, the inner meaning of the concept of idioms is still unclear to a lot of
people. Therefore, The author thinks a study on the subject of idioms in Vietnamese

and English is helpful for improving the knowledge of language learners, as well as
the students learning English in general. This paper is to study semantic and
syntactic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” and the Vietnamese
equivalent verb “có”. We have used the combination of descriptive and comparative
methods in this study. Moreover, both qualitative and quantitative analysis is made
use of investigation 536 samples in English and Vietnamese from various linguistic
books, dictionaries, short stories, novels and newspapers. The findings show that
idioms containing the verb “have” have remarkable syntactic and semantic features
and that there are some similarities and differences between the two languages. We
also dealt with the implications for teaching idioms containing the verb “have” as
well as for further study. And understanding the meaning of idioms in general and
idioms containing the verb “have” in particular is the first difficulty of learners and
the second one is the way of using idioms in each specific context. Idioms are
classified in different groups in which the author chooses English idioms containing
the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” to be my subjects
as they occupy a significant role and have special structure, is an appropriate
subject for a study.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EIVH: English Idioms containing the Verb “Have”
VIVC: Vietnamese Idioms containing the Verb “Có”

iv


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 3.1. A statistical summary of syntactic features of EIVH and VIVC

32

Table 3.2. Frequency of semantic fields of EIVH and VIVC
Figure 1: The necessity of learning EIVH and English idioms
Figure 2: Students‟ difficulties when learning EIVH and English idioms

47
51
52

Figure 3: Methods to motivate students in learning EIVH and English idioms 53

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality ......................................................................................... i
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ ii
Abstract .................................................................................................................. iii
List of abbreviations ............................................................................................... iv
List of tables and figures ........................................................................................ v
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1
1.1. Rationale for the study .................................................................................... 1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study .................................................................... 1
1.3.. Research questions ......................................................................................... 2
1.4. Methods of the study ....................................................................................... 2
1.5. Scope of the study ........................................................................................... 2
1.6. Significance of the study ................................................................................. 2
1.7. Design of the study.......................................................................................... 3

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 5
2.1. Previous studies ............................................................................................... 5
2.2. Review of theoretical background .................................................................. 6
2.2.1. Theories of syntax ........................................................................................ 6
2.2.2. Theories of semantics. .................................................................................. 8
2.3. Overview of idioms ......................................................................................... 10
2.3.1. Definition of idioms .................................................................................... 10
2.3.2. Feature of idioms ......................................................................................... 13
2.3.3. Idioms and other language units .................................................................. 15
2.4. An overview of verbs ...................................................................................... 18
2.4.1. The verb “have” in English .......................................................................... 19
2.4.2. The verb “có” in Vietnamese ....................................................................... 20
2.5. Summary ......................................................................................................... 20
Chapter 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH
IDIOMS CONTAINING THE VERB “HAVE” AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS
CONTAINING THE VERB “CÓ” ..................................................................... 21
3.1. Syntactic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” and
Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” ......................................................... 21
3.1.1. The structures of English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese
idioms containing the verb “có” ............................................................................. 26

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3.1.1.1. Comparative structures............................................................................... 26
3.1.1.2. Metaphorically descriptive structures ........................................................ 28
3.1.2. Comparison between English idioms containing the verb “have” and
Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có”in terms of syntactic features ..... …..30
3.1.2.1 Similarities ............................................................................................. …..30
3.1.2.2 Differences. .................................................................................................. 30

3.2. Semantic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” and
Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” ........................................................... 33
3.2.1. Symbolic characteristics of English idioms containing the verb “have” and
Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” ........................................................... 33
3.2.1.1. Metaphor ..................................................................................................... 33
3.2.1.2. Metonymy ................................................................................................... 34
3.2.1.3. Metaphonymy ............................................................................................ 35
3.2.1.4. Hyperbole ................................................................................................... 36
3.2.1.5. Simile ......................................................................................................... 37
3.2.1.6. Symmetry ................................................................................................... 38
3.2.2. Semantic fields of English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese
idioms containing the verb “có” ............................................................................... 39
3.2.2.1. Human Relationships ................................................................................. 39
3.2.2.2. Behaviors and Attitudes ............................................................................. 40
3.2.2.3. Human States and Feelings ........................................................................ 41
3.2.2.4. Knowing and Understanding ..................................................................... 42
3.2.2.5. Business - Work - Job ................................................................................. 42
3.2.2.6. Health ......................................................................................................... 43
3.2.2.7. Human personality ..................................................................................... 43
3.2.2.8. Experience and perception ......................................................................... 44
3.2.2.9. Success - Failure ........................................................................................ 45
3.2.2.10. Situation .................................................................................................... 45
3.2.2.11. Like and dislike ......................................................................................... 46
3.2.3. Comparison between English idioms containing the verb “have”
and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” in terms of semantic features
46
3.2.3.1 Similarities ................................................................................................... 46
3.2.3.2 Differences ................................................................................................... 47
3.3. Summary ........................................................................................................... 48

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Chapter 4: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH IDIOMS
CONTAINING THE VERB “HAVE” AND ENGLISH IDIOMS FOR THE
FRESHMAN IN THANH HOA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND
FORESTRY ............................................................................................................ 49
4.1. Survey questionnaires ....................................................................................... 49
4.2. Difficulties of the freshman in Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and Forestry
in learning idioms containing the verb “have” and English idioms......................... 50
4.3. Some suggestions for teaching English idioms containing the verb “have” and
English idioms ......................................................................................................... 52
4.4. Summary ........................................................................................................... 57
Chapter 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 58
5.1. Recapitulation ................................................................................................... 58
5.2. Concluding remarks .......................................................................................... 58
5.3. Limitation of the study ...................................................................................... 59
5.4. Suggestions for further studies .......................................................................... 59
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 60
APPENDIX 1 .......................................................................................................... 63
APPENDIX 2 .......................................................................................................... 75
APPENDIX 3 .......................................................................................................... 80
APPENDIX 4 .......................................................................................................... 82

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CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale for the study

Idioms are considered interesting and popular phenomena of almost all
languages. They show the way people perceive and react to the world they inhabit.
Being able to master idioms is almost essential if we want our English to sound
more native-like and less awkward. Mastering those tricky idioms will also help
better understand native English speakers.
Theoretically, being aware of the importance of idioms in daily interaction as
well as in learning language, a lot of books and dictionaries have brought us with
great benefit. For example, in “ Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by Cowie,
Mackin & McCaig, “ Idioms for Everyday Use” by Broukal and Milida , “ Essential
Idioms in English” by Dixon, “ Idioms and Idomaticity” by Fernando and Chitra, “
Idioms Structures in English” by Makkai, “ English Idioms and How to use them”
by McMordie, etc.
Practically, a lot of researchers have made efforts to study issues and aspects
in this field; they have concentrated on analyzing idioms in syntactic, semantic and
some cultural features in idioms denoting color, human body parts or numbers, etc.
However, an investigation into idioms containing verb “have” has not been dealt
with so far. As a result, on the basis of the results of the previous studies, the
research titled “A study on English idioms containing the verb “have” with
reference to the Vietnamese equivalents” are dealt. However, we are not going to
study all idioms relating to all verbs, we just focus on idioms containing the verb
“have” in English and idioms containing the verb “có” in Vietnamese.
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
The thesis aims at investigating the syntactic and semantic features of
English idioms containing the verb “have” with reference to the Vietnamese
equivalent verb “có”, thus suggesting some possible implications for teaching
idioms containing the verb “have” for the freshman students in Thanh Hoa College
of Agriculture and Forestry.
To achieve the mentioned aims above, the following objectives can be put forward:
- To investigate syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the
verb “have” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent idioms containing the verb

“có”;

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- To find out the similarities and differences of English idioms containing the verb
“have” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent idioms containing the verb
“có”;
- To suggest solutions enabling to teach English idioms containing the verb “have”
idioms in particular and English idioms in general for the freshman students in
Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and Forestry more effectively and exactly.
1.3. Research questions
- What are the syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the verb “have”
in English with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent idioms containing the verb
“có”?
- What are the similarities and the differences between English idioms containing
the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” in terms of
syntactic and semantic features?
- What are the implications for teaching English idioms containing the verb “have”
idioms in particular and English idioms in general for the freshman students in
Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and Forestry?
1.4. Methods of the study
The methods of research are determined by object of the research. In this
study, we have used the combination of descriptive and comparative methods.
Descriptive method was dealt with in the first stage of the research. The
idiomatic expressions were described with the help of dictionaries to obtain their
structural and semantic features as well.
Comparative method was employed to find out the similarities and differences
in the ways English and Vietnamese people use these idioms in speech and writing.
Moreover, this was also a combination of qualitative and quantitative method.

We collected and analyzed both qualitative and quantitative data on the purpose of
finding out the relationship of syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing
the verb “have” in English with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent idioms
containing the verb “có”.
Data collection: The study was only deal with English idioms containing the
verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có”. Together with limited
scope of the research mentioned in this chapter, the data was taken mainly from:
- “Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by A.P. Cowie et al, 1994
- “NTC‟s English Idioms Dictionary” by Richard A.Spears, 1994

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- “The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms” by Christtine Ammer, 2006
- “Từ điển thành ngữ và tục ngữ Việt Nam” by Nguyễn Lân, 2003
- “Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt” by Nguyễn Lựu, 2002
- “Từ điển giải thích thành ngữ Tiếng Việt” by Viện ngôn ngữ học, 1995.
The number of samples being investigate in the research was about 371
idioms containing the verb “have” in English and 165 idioms containing the verb
“có” in Vietnamese. These samples were of different genres and register: English
and Vietnamese idiom dictionaries, fiction as well as non – fiction, novels, short
stories, magazines, newspapers.
1.5. Scope of the study
The researcher does

not

have much

ambition

to

cover all idioms

containing all verbs in the two languages because there are quite a lot of ways used
the verbs such as the verbs do, make, take, get,… in English. This research,
therefore, is restricted to idioms containing the verb “have”. Specifically, the writer
would like to pay attention to idioms containing the most typical verb “have” in
English and idioms containing the equivalent verb “có” in Vietnamese.
The study focuses on studying syntactic and semantic features of EIVH and
VIVC (with 371 EIVH and 165 VIVC taken from both English and Vietnamese
dictionaries of idioms, many examples from books, fiction, websites, magazines,
etc.) so as to make crucial contributions to the field of linguistics and give some
suggestions for teachng EIVH and English idioms for Vietnamese students in
general and the freshman in Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and Forestry in
particular.
1.6. Significance of the study
The research is expected to contribute an in - depth description of English
idioms containing the verb “have” (EIVH) in terms of syntactic and semantic
features with reference to Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” (VIVC) for
theoretical significance, thus making a certain contribution to teach Vietnamese
learners, and especially freshman students in Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and
Forestry understand and use effetcively EIVH in particular and English idioms in
general for practical significance.
1.7. Design of the study
The study will include five chapters:

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Chapter 1, Introduction, states the background to the situation, the problems
under investigation and justification. Also, in this chapter, the rationale for the
study, aims and objetcives of the study, research questions, methods of the study,
scope of the study, significance of the study and design of the study are presented.
Chapter 2, Literature review, provides a brief literature review of the prior
researches which have some similarities with the study or are closely related to the
field being investigated. It also provides the theoretical background about some
concepts related to the study.
Chapter 3, Syntactic and semantic features of EIVH and VIVC, shows what
have been found and how they are analyzed. The features are accompanied by
statistical results and the analysis of the data shown in the tables. The most
importance in this chapter is the discussion of the data colletcion and analysis.
Chapter 4, Some implications for teaching EIVH and English idioms exactly
for students in Thanh Hoa College Agriculture and Forestry.
Chapter 5, Conclusion, provides a summary of the development of the study, a
brief re-statement of the findings. Also, the recapitulation, concluding remarks, the
limitations of the study and suggsetions for further studies are cited here.

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CHAPTER 2:
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. PREVIOUS STUDIES
Up to now, there have been a number of studies on different kinds of English
and Vietnamese idioms, verbs and related subjetcs. The descriptions and analyses
are based on the starting point from Chomsky. The other descriptions of syntactic
and semantic views are through different ages in the history of linguistics as
Bullokar in “Brief Grammar for English” (1785).The description makes further

progress to the view of Fowler in “English Grammar” (1857), then Sweet in “New
English Grammar” (1891).
Palmer (1990) said that idioms are the consequences of words whose
meaning cannot be predicted from the meaning of the words themselves.
Semantically, idioms are single units, but they are not single grammatical features
and the problem of idioms involves the much wider issue of word formation, by
which what would appear to be new and more complex lexemes can be formed
from single ones.
Cruise (1987) mentioned the traditional definition of idioms as “a lexical
complex which is semantically simplex”. According to him, “most idioms are
homophonous with grammatically well-formed transparent expressions”. Besides,
he made the conception of idioms in his book more clearly by distinguishing idioms
from collocations and “dead” metaphor.
Idioms have also been the subjetc of study, essay and research by many
other linguists: Flavel (1994), Collins (1957), etc. The interest in idioms cast back a
perception of the universality of prefabricated- memorized combination in spoken
and in written language. Since 1990s, idioms have been studied in relation with
their syntactic, semantic and pragmatic functions. Linguists have begun to
concentrate on the difficulty of understanding idioms in general in terms of
meanings of their components.
In Vietnamese, idioms have been recognized, colletced and explained
systematically. A lot of works have been done to make colletcions of Vietnamese
idioms in comparison with those in other languages such as English, French,
Russian, etc…It should be noticed about the works of Đỗ Hữu Châu (1981), who
wrote “Từ vựng - Ngữ nghĩa Tiếng Việt” In this book, the author analyzed
Vietnamese idioms and showed their semantic and syntactic features. Nguyễn Lân

5

colletced a number of Vietnamese idioms in “ Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ Việt
Nam” (2005). Nguyễn Nhã Bản was best known with “Đặc trưng cấu trúc ngữ
nghĩa của thành ngữ, tục ngữ trong ca dao” (2005).
Besides, there have been some other papers which dealt with idioms related
to animals, human body parts, numbers, spatial verbs,... These were done by
Nguyễn Thị Hiệp (2001), Võ Thanh Quyên (2006).
Recently, there have been some research papers that have close relationship
with the thesis such as: “ A Study of “To Have” and Vietnamese Equivalent” by
Nguyễn Bích Ngọc, Vinh University (2008); “ Semantic Features of English and
Vietnamese Idiomatic Verb Phrases” , by Nguyễn Văn Long, Vinh University
(2001), etc.
However, the investigation into EIVH has not been carried out yet.
Therefore, through the reading of those works in English and Vietnamese, I would
like to make a systematic description and analysis of EIVH and VIVC in terms of
syntactic and semantic features. A system of information about EIVH together with
my realization and analyses is just a small part in this field of linguistics. Moreover,
a study on EIVH and VIVC is still a deserted field that needs to be exploited to
keep up with and fulfill the demands in teaching idioms for EFL students in
Vietnam.
2.2. Review of theoretical background
2.2.1. Theories of syntax
The word syntax comes from Ancient Greek word. In linguistics, syntax is a
colletcion of rules, standards as well as methods which regulate the structure of
sentences in a certain language, specificially order of words. (Oxford University
Press, 2014).
The word of syntax had been written long before modern grammar official
fixed and appeared. In old times, syntax concept was ruled by a structure name by
grammaire générale which was discovered by Antoine Arnauld in “Grammaire
Générale” in 1660. This framework states that human brain thinking processes will
refletc straightly into language. As a result “there is a single, most natural way to

express a thought” (Antoine, 1660). That framework lasts until the 19th century
which been replaced by the development of linguistics and by the argument of
progresssive linguists. They recognize that it is not true about the state “there is a
single, most natural way to express a thought” because of the impact of internal and

6


external environment on human thinking. And so thelogic base for studying
language‟s structure had been denied (Bickerton, 1992).
It only became clear when linguists discovered aand adapte modern theories
of syntax in the late 20th century. The famous work “generative grammar” of
professor Noam Chomsky is considered as the most popular framework to study
and analyze about syntax with the main hypothesis that “language is a configuration
of the human mind” and “syntax is based upon the component structure of
sentences”, following the concept that syntax features certainly focus on the
arrangement of a sentence more than its communication purposes (Chomsky, 2002).
2.2.1.1. An overview of predicator adjunct and complement
a. Predicator Complement (Cp)
According to Downing and Locke (1995), the term „Predicator Complement‟
is used to refer to any obligatory constituent that is not classed as an Objetc.
Types of Predicator Complement
Certain verbs take an obligatory complement but do not passivise or, if they do, the
same relationship is not maintained. They include:
- The constituent following the relational verbs as have, possess, lack, suit,
contain, resemble and fit.
- The constituent following verbs of measure as measure, cost, take, weigh
- The constituent following verbs of equal reciprocity as marry, resemble
- The constituent following verbs of movement with the manner as slip.
creep, slide,…

Realization of the Predicator Complement:
The Predicator Complement can be realized by norminal group, prepositional
group, finite clause, and non-finite clause. For example:
I have no money
He crawled under the wire - netting.
She complains that he doesn‟t write.
Tom trust us to let him know the result.
b. Adjunct (A)
The Adjunct is an optional element of clause structure which can be omitted
without affetcing the grammaticality of the clause. In the following example, the
bracket items are Adjuncts:

7


(If at all possible) I‟ll see you (tomorrow) (after the show) (with Pete and
Susan(outside the main entrance)
The Adjunct element is prototypically realized by prepositional groups and
adverbial groups. In grammars based on constituency, it is held that adjunct can be
realized by almost any class of unit except the verbal group and adjetcive group.
The following examples illustrate the wide range of forms and meaning traditionally
associated with the adjunct element in English:
Did you do that on purpose?
prepositional group

I saw him yesterday
adverb

It has been rained very hard indeed
adverbial group

She has hidden the money where no-one will ever find it
finite clause

He wrote quickly, in order to finish in time.
non- finite clause

Are you going abroad this year?
nominal group

2.2.2. Theories of semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It primarily focus on the
correlation between the symbolic constistuent of a sentence such as words and
phrases and what they demonstrate for, their references. First discovered by French
linguist Michel Breal, the word semantics relates series of awarenesses from normal
using to higher application. In simple meaning, itdescribe a range of understanding
which could carry out the word choice. According to Breal (1890), the difference
between semantics and syntax is syntax is just an formal arrangement of
constistuents of alanguage without their own meanings, while semantics requires
the critical meaning for every use of words.
There are many theories of semantics which has been studied and analyzed
for centuries and they could generally classified into three basic concepts:
Model theoretic semantics: Discovered by Richard Montague in the late
1960s, this formal theory of ordinary language semantics is about how and in which
expressions refletc their relational meaning among themselves. And more
amazingly, the truth values of a sentence and its reasonable denotations to other
sentence are analyzed to a model (Montague, 1960).
8

Truth conditional semantics: First mentioned by the linguist Donald
Davidson in 1973, the theory tries to find the language connetcion with the reality
which differenates it from model theoretic semantics. Its result shows that every
components of a sentence must rely and refletc the truth conditions of themselves in
order to carry out the true meaning of the combination. There is a simple example
for this theory: “Winter is cold” is true only when winter is cold, if two conditions
of the meaning “winter” and “cold” are not logical with each other then the
semantics could not be performed.
Lexical semantics: is the theory of context. It states that the meaning of a
word is totally revealed by its situation. Each component of the sentence mus
collaborate with others in terms of meanings which could depend on their own level
and form in order to carry out the meaning of the sentence. As a result, it would be
easier for the speakers to convenient delivertheir thoughts depending the current
context (Levin, 1991).
2.2.2.1. Metaphor
As claimed by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005) “A metaphor consists of a
comparison between two dissimilar notions where one notion is to be understood in
term of the other notion. Metaphor is seen not just as a linguistic embellishment, but
also as a primary means by which people make sense of the world around them.
Therefore it is not surprising that metaphor is mainly used in the meaning transfer
of idioms. Idioms, therefore, are formed by a process of metaphorical transfer; that
is, the process involved in the transference of some quality from one objetc to
another.
2.2.2.2. Metonymy
Metonymy is the substitution of the name of one thing for that of another to
which it is related or with it is associated. (In Greek, meta- means „substitution‟ and
– onyma means „name‟). According to Galperin, (1977), metonymy is based on a
type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings, a relation based
not on affinity, but on some kind of association connetcing the two concepts with
these meaning represent.

2.2.2.3. Metaphonymy
As metaphor and metonymy have something in common since they facilitate
mapping from the source to the target domain, Groossens (1990) called the
combination of metaphor and metonymy metaphonymy from his examining a

9


number of idiomatic phrases to find out whether metaphor and metonymy can be
joined and underlie some idiomatic phrases. He shows that metonymy can be at the
root of the metaphor, when „the donor domain and the target domain can be joined
in a complex scene, in which they produce a metonymy. Also, metonymy can exist
within metaphor, when „a metonymically used entity is embedded in a (complex)
metaphorical expression, the metonymy functions within the target domain‟.
2.2.2.4. Hyperbole
From Galperin‟s viewpoint (1977), “Hyperbole is delibrate overstatement or
exaggeration, the aim of which is to intensify one of the features of the objetc in
question to such a degree as will show its utter absurdity”. This stylistic device is
used in meaning transfer of idioms.
2.2.2.5. Simile
According to Alan Cruse (2006), A simile involves an explicit comparison
between two things or actions. The majority of similes include the word like: You
are behaving like a spoit child, Their house is like a renaissance palace. As if is also
quite frequent: He treats her as if she were a delicate piece of porcelain. Normally
the relevant features of resemblance signalled by a simile are quite circumscribed,
and its wording frequently serves to narrow down the possibilities.
2.2.2.6. Symmetry
Symmetry (from Greek συμμετρία symmetria "agreement in dimensions, due
proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious
and beautiful proportion and balance. Although these two meanings of "symmetry"

can sometimes be told apart, they are related, so they are here discussed together.
(Retrieved on )
2.3. Overview of idioms
2.3.1. Definition of idioms
It has long been recognized that expressions such as: to have a foot in both
camps, to have a heart of stone, to sleep like a log,… in English or có chí thì nên;
sông có khúc, người có lúc;… are semantically peculiar. They are usually described
as idioms. We can see that they are groups of words with set meanings that cannot
be calculated by adding up the separate meanings of the parts. We are to study some
famous definitions of idioms in both languages: English and Vietnamese.
In Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms (2011): “ An idiom is a word or
phrase which means something different from what it says” - it is usually a

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metaphor. “An idiom” most often refers to a phrase or expression that cannot be
understood by knowing what the individual words mean. For example, “ have a go”
means “ have a try at something” . The phrase will be misunderstood if it is
interpreted in a literal fashion. Another meaning for “idiom” is a specialized
language or a distinctive pattern in the usage of a language. As such, it can refer to
the way a language is used in a given region; in such usage, an idiom isn‟t usually
seen as distinctly as a dialetc is, although sometimes „idiom” and “dialetc” are used
interchang eably. An idiom can similarly refer to the language patterns used within
a certain profession or other subgroup.
According to Makkai (1972), an idiom is “ any polylexonic lexeme made up
of more than one minimal free form of word (as defined by morphotatic criteria),
each lexeme of which can occur in other environments as the realization of a
monoloxonic lexeme”. So idioms are units realized by at least two words. In
addition, “ the meaning of an idiom is not predictable from its component parts,

which are empty of their usual senses”
Another linguist, Strasler (1976) defines that “ An idiom is a concentration of
more than one lexeme whose meaning is not derived from the meaning of its
constituents and which does not consist of a verb plus an adverbial partial or
preposition. The concentration as such then constitutes a lexeme in its own right
and should be centered as such in the lexicon”.
Cruise (1987) defines idioms by using the notion of a semantic constituent.
He says that we will require two things of an idiom: first, that it be lexically
complex, e.g. it should consist of more than one lexical constituent; second, that it
should be a single minimal semantic constituent. Consider this example:
This will cook Arthur‟s goose
The test of recurrent semantic contract reveals that this, will and Arthur are
regular semantic constituents; the rest, however, i.e. cook‟s goose, constitutes a
minimal semantic constituent, which as a whole contrasts recurrently with, say, help
or destroy. Cook‟s goose is therefore an idiom. An idiom may be briefly
characterized as a lexical complex which is semantically simple.
In Vietnamese, Hồ Lê (1976) refers an idiom is a word combination which
has stable structure and figurative meaning and is used to describe an image, a
phenomenon, a characteristic, or a state. Đái Xuân Ninh (1978) defines an idiom is
a set expression whose constituents lose their independence to some extend and

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combine into a rather complete and stable units. Hoàng Văn Hành (2002) affirms
that idioms are set expressions which are stable in morph-structure, complete and
figurative in meaning, used widely in daily communication, especially speech.
Let‟s have a look at some English and Vietnamese idioms below to clarify
the definition of idiom.
English Idioms

Vietnamese idioms

Cheap as dirt

Đắt nhƣ tôm tƣơi

Duck soup
Have a big mouth
Don‟t put all your eggs in one basket.

Nửa hƣơu nửa vƣợn
Có máu mặt
Có cam phụ quýt, có ngƣời phụ ta

Looking at the above examples, we can see that idioms in both languages
are structurally and lexically combined phrases whose meanings are completely
different from their component parts.
Structurally, the central part of an idiom can be an adjetcive (as example 1),
a noun (as example 2), or a verb (as example 3). An idiom may also be a clause of
a complex sentence (as example 4). All these idioms are structurally and lexically
restricted. The stability in idioms is very high. The structure of an idiom is not
anything indivisible; certain modifications are possible within certain boundaries.
For example, Tom has a big ball have nothing to do with an enjoyable time. No
lexical substitution is possible in comparison with fee or variable wordcombinations. For example, we cannot say have a familiar call instead of have a
familiar ring (to sound familiar) although call and ring are synonyms. That is to
say, we cannot modify, add extract, or replace components without breaking or
distorting their real meaning.
Semantically, idioms generally have connotative meaning with various
means like comparative, metaphorical, metonymical and so on. The connotative

meanings are a basic characteristic of idiom that helps investigate whether a phrase
is idiomatic or not. It is impossible to guess the meaning of an idiom through the
denotative meaning of the component parts. In practice, however, there are quite a
few idioms whose connotative and denotative meaning is nearly similar in both
English and Vietnamese. For example, have a red face (đỏ mặt) in English, or có
mới nới cũ in Vietnamese. Idioms are also characterized by stylistic coloring. In
other words, they evoke emotions or add expressiveness. For example, have a heart
of gold; have money to burn; have green fingers,…
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To build a foundational definition for the study, we base on the above
features as well as our own observation, then apply the following definition as the
main reference for our research working: “An idiom is a fixed phrase which has
integrity of meaning, making a complete referential unit whose meaning is different
from the total meanings of its components, it is non-literal and works as a single
word or a phrase”.
2.3.2. Features of Idioms
a) Syntactic Features
According to Palmer (1990), an idiom is semantically like a single word but
it structurally does not function like one. An idiom is comprised of at least two
words. For instance, have an out ( to have an excuse); have a lot on one‟s mind (to
have many thing to worry about); có máu mặt;có cam phụ quít; có vỏ mà nỏ có
ruột;… A large number of idioms contain a verb and a noun. While the verb may be
replaced in accordance with tenses, the noun can never be changed. For example,
with the idiom have a close call (have a narrow escape from something dangerous,
we can have had a close call; but not have close calls. Moreover, it is hardy
possible to insert any word between the components of an idiom. For instance, the
idioms such as: có chí thì nên; có tật giật mình; have a fit (very angry); have a pickme-up (eat or drink something stimulating) cannot be inserted with any words
without destroying their original meanings. There are also many syntactic

restrictions that vary from idiom to idiom. Some idioms have passive forms; others
do not.
Moreover, it was discovered by Cruise (1987) that most idioms are
homophonous with grammatically well-formed transparent expressions. A few are
not well-formed, although some grammatical structure is normally discernible. It is
interesting that though idioms consist of more than one word, they display to some
extent the sort of internal cohesion that we expetc in a single word. For instance,
they typically resist interruption and re-ordering of parts. Some of the restriction of
syntactic potential of idioms is clearly semantically motivated. Idioms tend to resist
interruption by material which, as long as it remains “outside” the idiom, is seman
tically compatible:
Arthur apparently has a chip on his shoulder.
Arthur has a chip, apparently, on his shoulder.
(Cruise, Lexical Semantic)

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The same is true of re-ordering. Many grammatical processes involving reordering of constituents are ruled out for semantic reasons, particularly those whose
semantic function is to highlight a specific semantic constituent. But semantically
innocuous re-orderings are also to some extent resisted:
John has a bee in his bonnet about it.
John has a bee about it in his bonnet.
(Cruise, Lexical Semantic)
At the same time, idioms show their status as phrases in various ways, too.
For example if an idiom may be infletced, the infletcional affixes are carried by the
grammatically appropriate elements within the idiom, whether or not they are
semantic constituents; that is to say, the elements of an idiom retain at least some of
their grammatical identity:
John has bees in his bonnet about many things.

John has bee-in-his bonnets about many things.
(Cruise, Lexical Semantic)
In conclusion, we may say that an idiom‟s syntactic behavior is broadly
determined by two factors: the syntactic structure of the literal counterpart of the
idiom (if it has one) and the fact that distinguishable syntactic constituents are not
semantic constituents.
b) Semantic Features
The characteristic of semantic ambiguity is one of the particular features of
idioms. Grains and Redman (1986) consider that semantic opacity is one of the
characteristic aspetcs of idioms. Most idioms are clearly constructed from
components that can also be used in any other combinations without idiomatic
constraints. Such phrases may possess either a literal or idiomatic meaning. That
resulted in their opacity in meanings. For example, if somebody has a heart of
stone, it does not mean that he has a heart made of stone, which is regarded as a
literal meaning. When the literal meaning is realized to be unsuitable in a context,
the idiomatic meaning will take its place. The situation and the context where the
idiom comes about helps reduce the semantic opacity.
Moreover, idioms usually convey users‟ emotion, feelings and attitudes
toward the states or events. Most idioms are possible to be explained or replaced by
another word or group of words. Let‟s have a look at the following example:
a. Bill, I have a bone to pick with you. Where is the money you owe me?

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b. Bill, I have something to argue about with you. Where is the money you owe me?
(Spear and Kirkpatrick, NTC‟s English Idioms Dictionary)
Instead of using utterance (b), the speaker uses utterance (a) with an idiom to
show his anger to the listener.
Clearly, the reason of using an idiom is that it has enough “power” to satisfy

the need of imparting different nuances of feelings. It is the figurative meaningmetaphor - that makes idioms more telling, more effetcive and more expressive.
2.3.3. Idioms and other language units
a. Idioms and Phrases
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary (2005), “ A phrase
is a group of words which have a particular meaning when used together”. It is a
syntactic structure that consists of more than one word but lacks the subjetcpredicate organization of a clause. Recognizing the difference between ordinary
phrases and idioms is not an easy task. Some idioms may be comprehended as
phrases and vice versa. It is rather impossible to pick up idioms from phrases
relying on the grammatical structure only. It can be done by analyzing their
meanings. While the meaning of phrases, the free combinations of words, is the free
addition of the meaning of the words existing in a given phrase, the meaning of
idioms cannot be inferred from the meaning of its parts. E.g. to have a wide mouth
and to have a big mouth (to be a gossiper). In a word, idioms are bound to be frozen
in form and are not ready to take part in other combinations or to be changed.
b. Idioms and Collocations
Cruise (1987) defines collocations as “sequences of lexical items which
habitually co-occur, but which are nonetheless fully transparent in the sense that
each lexical constituent is also a semantic constituent. Such expressions as (to pick
a semantic area at random) fine weather, torrential rain, high winds are examples of
collocations. These are easy to distinguish from idioms; nonetheless, they do have a
kind of semantic cohesion. The semantic cohesion of a collocation is the more mark
if the meaning carried by one (or more) of its constituent elements is highly
restricted contextually, and different from its meaning in more neutral contexts.
From Cowie‟s viewpoint (1994), words which combine with other words, or with
idioms, in particular grammatical constructions are said to collocate with those
words or idioms. Collocations are of two kinds:

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